OBJECTIVES To determine the extent of teaching about tobacco, tobacco-related diseases, and smoking cessation techniques in medical schools around the world; and to ascertain the problems of getting the teaching about tobacco onto the medical curriculum. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. Questionnaires were sent to the 1353 medical schools in 143 countries around the world using the World Health...

AIM To identify the extent to which medical aspects of fitness to drive (FTD) are taught within UK medical schools. METHODS A survey of all 32 UK medical schools. In-depth interviews with a range of staff at two medical schools; telephone survey of 30 schools. RESULTS Two thirds of schools reported specific teaching on medical aspects of FTD but few covered it in any depth or in relation to...

Purpose Mentoring is considered a valuable component of undergraduate medical education with a variety of programs at established medical schools. This study presents how new medical schools have set up mentoring programs as they have developed their curricula. Methods Administrators from 14 US medical schools established since 2006 were surveyed regarding the structure and implementation of th...

BACKGROUND History supports the staff and single serpent, the asklepian, as the symbol of healing and medicine, yet its confusion with the caduceus (a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it) persists. No population-based information on serpent symbol use exists. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of asklepian and caduceus display among Internet images of medical and health professi...

BACKGROUND According to recent surveys, 59% of British medical schools and 90% of US medical schools have courses or content on spirituality and health (S/H). There is little research, however, on the teaching of S/H in medical schools in other countries, such as those in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Africa. The present study seeks to investigate the current status of teaching on S/H in B...

Learning disabilities are a group of disorders that affect 10-15% of the general population and 3% of United States medical students. Medical students with learning disabilities are typically unaware of their disorder and may only learn of it when the pace of medical school curriculum overtakes what were previously successful study techniques. Despite the significant prevalence of this disorder...